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[ronsmac]

Originally Posted by MONEY

Post #226 is reporting that Keeneland's handle is down 9.3%

I'm not a mathematician, some one that is a mathematician with all of the proper pool information should do the math.

Here's my math.

Last Year the take out on win bets was 16%, this year it's 17.5%

On 10/20 the Win handle was
2,484,951 times take out 17.5% = $434,866

Add 9.3%
Last years handle might have been
2,716,051 times takeout 16% = $434,568

That's a positive $265.00 for Keeneland on win bets
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How about exactas

Last year the takeout was 19%, this year it's 22%

On 10/20 the Ex. handle was
1,592,337 times takeout 22% = $350,314

Add 9.3%
Last years handle might have been
1,740,424 times takeout 19% = $330,680

That's a positive $19,634 for Keeneland
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It looks to me that Keeneland is making more money on handle this year than last year and that was their goal.

I don't know how the raise in takeout is affecting the attendance.
If attendance is significantly down, Keeneland could lose lots of money on parking and concessions
which could washout the profits on handle.

Although your example only pertains to on track handle , the point is made. When Churchill raised their takeout, not only did the take increase, but they got the double whammy of a tax break from the state. Previously they paid 3.5% to the state and the increase in takeout actually allowed them to lower their cut to the state to 1.5%. Someone please correct me if i'm wrong. So basically at 19%, the track and horseman and breeders i'm guessing split 15.5% of on track exotic handle. After the increase they split 20.5% of on track exotic handle. That's more than a 30% increase and it will take a monumental drop in handle for them to ever think about going back to the old rates. Especially with the Derby being such a big part of their handle. Hopefully Keeneland will consider the negative publicity of the takeout increase and go back to the previous takeout and signal fees because I know there's no turning back at Churchill.